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MenuMachine for GoLive


by Daniel M. East

If you've ever wanted to create those cool pull-down menus in your web pages, but don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on animation or design classes, MenuMachine does a great job of producing excellent results with nice looking and easy to use menu navigation.

First Impressions

With a modest learning curve to get rolling, I was very impressed by how well this software works. Getting the "hang of it" is the key. Once I created one or two test pages, I found it easier to begin using animation, images and text to create really fluid and more interesting navigation on some sites.

Likes: As a plug-in for GoLive, this requires no extra steps to launch. The output is as nice as your imagination will allow and you can use, as mentioned, text, images, animation and a variety of colors to create some wonderful effects that aren't over done or the ol' standby mouseover-type buttons (which I still like when done properly).

Dislikes: Call me old-fashioned, but I still create pages with single templates instead of the (and I know its wonderful) site creation in GoLive. While I understand that this is an extra step, it is my preference and MenuMachine requires that you create your site as a site under GoLive. I'd love to see a stand-alone version of this software.

How does this product compare? With Macromedia Studio MX at around 300.00 (I prefer GoLive, but that's another article altogether), this is a great way to make your site look really professional.

When GoLive guru, Deb Shadovitz suggested that I try this software, I wasn't sure if I would really want/need/use it. Boy, was I wrong. MenuMachine is not the easiest in the beginning, but it is in the end. I actually installed it under GoLive 6.0.1 and didn't have a chance to work with it until I had GoLive CS. The install was easy, the QuickTime tutorial and documentation are terrific, and I'm glad to be able to create web sites that are current and functional when keeping up with technology is so critical as a web designer. Thanks Deb!

If you have GoLive 6.0.1 or later and would like to add pull down menus, this is your baby.

MenuMachine for GoLive

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CREDITS:
Daniel East is the founder and president of The Mid-Atlantic Macintosh User Groups Team (MaMUGs); a member of The Apple Consultants Network (ACN); a member of The Apple Developer Connection (ACN); a panelist on "PC Talk Radio;" a live speaker/presenter and a freelance columnist for several Mac publications. This review may be reproduced with proper attribution. Please notify author of placement and provide a copy/URL for reference. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. (c) 2004 Daniel M. East for The Mid-Atlantic Macintosh User Groups Team (MaMUGs)

 

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